


Her Hand Matched Her Heart

by wowthatsloud



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Gen, not sure how this is gonna play out yet, possible appearances from others
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-19
Updated: 2014-04-19
Packaged: 2018-01-19 23:01:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1487338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wowthatsloud/pseuds/wowthatsloud
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The troubles you go to sleep with aren't necessarily the ones you wake up with. Especially not when Mara's around looking to have fun, at everyone else's expense.</p><p>End of season four-ish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Her Hand Matched Her Heart

The fields on the outskirts of Haven had always been beautiful. Expansive and verdant, with leafy greens and shrubs, they were a serene space where it often seemed that time and the whole world stopped. They were far too beautiful for the desolation and despair of this city.

Nathan was on his knees, bound, and he had never been so desperate in his life. Directly in front of him, also knelt, was the woman he loved most in the world. A few feet behind her was the man he hated the most in the world. His reassured arrogance would have made him seethe if he weren’t so afraid of losing her, of losing everything.

Audrey held the small box of troubles with one hand, Mara threatening to take her. Her eyes were still gentle and soft, letting him know that Audrey was still there, because the day that they iced over was the day he would know she was gone. But now, she needed action.  
“Nathan. Now.” When she had whispered that, he didn’t believe what he was hearing. Couldn’t. Wouldn’t.

Yet at the same time, he knew he had to. The sun came out then, weak and barely warming, but it illuminated Audrey’s face and hair and beauty. The ancient trees behind him gave solemn watch.  
Nathan tensed up, and quickly, so he didn’t stop himself, drove his head at full force towards Audrey’s face, knocking her and William completely unconscious.

\-------

Mara regained consciousness at last light, glancing around the empty field and realising she was alone. Belatedly realising she was also herself.

She stood, not minding the pulsating throb pounding her head because she was finally, absolutely alive. Inhaling a frigid winter’s breath through her nostrils, she felt invigorated – elated, at the pure evil running through her very veins. Not just her state of mind, her whole being had altered; it was like coming out of a coma after hundreds of years of numb, dull, zombie-like existence.

She would make up for it soon enough, though. The little box of treasures still lay on the grass beneath her, and Mara scooped it up, smirking cruelly at the fun she would have tonight, waiting for William to show up. Mara sensed his distance and knew he was likely off regrouping. They were limited in their ability apart, and she didn’t know how long it would take him to get back to her, she only had the resolute knowledge that he would. And anyway, there was no rush about the matter - she was perfectly content to entertain herself in the meantime.

Mara walked on for a while to a path that led up a hill, and soon she saw Haven in all its twinkling lights and thought about all the victims in their cosy houses that she would get to retrouble tonight. She was almost spoilt for choice. Would it be the pompous barista at the coffee shop that Mara had to tolerate day in, day out as her stupid other-self smiled and laughed with his jokes? Or maybe the bratty attending doctor she had to deal with far more often than she’d liked. This other-personality, this Audrey had had to deal with a host of intolerable people in her day-to-day for so long, Mara wondered if she couldn’t just trouble all of them at once and be done with it. But no, that would take time and effort she did not have or care to spend. Which forced her to look closer, into herself – or rather, her other, strange self. 

She rolled the name over in her mind. _Audrey_. A silly name for a silly, silly girl. Pinpointing her feelings towards her was surprising, as she found less resentment than she’d initially expected, only sadness, with more than a helping hint of pity. The time wasted, the potential… completely thrown away. She had gone for so long amongst this common filth that she actually perceived herself to be equal to them, and while the proximity was obviously disgusting to her, she realised it had given her an indirect benefit. Troubles worked best when you understood the person receiving them, and thanks to Audrey, she knew far more about a select handful of Haven’s citizens that she would have never cared to find out on her own. Their utter destruction would come swiftly once she was reunited with William, but there was no reason not to start warming up early. After all, dangling the cat’s string was half the enjoyment in games like these.

She paid a visit to the police chief first. It was one of the first houses she encountered on her way into the city limits, the natural position of a defender. He kept his living space orderly, if sparse, and slept unusually lightly for a man of his size. Mara probably knew the least of this one out of all of them, but still, this Dwight Hendrickson was not as reclusive as he’d like to think, and not nearly as hard to read. Fiercely loyal and protective of Haven and its citizens, his trouble was the perfect chink in the otherwise infallible hero’s armour. And tonight it would be supplemented supremely with a special new addition. 

Mara’s hand shimmered with black as she reached out to the sleeping form. Her handprint glowed above a large tattoo, which she had come to know was the association for a support network for troubled people in Haven. She grinned cruelly at her delightful handiwork, stealing away to continue her forward conquest.

Boarding a boat didn’t seem part of the conventional route, but Duke Crocker was never the conventional kind of man. The low ceiling and narrow spacing below deck gave everything a cramped and uncomfortable sensation – certainly no way for anyone to be living. Here lay a man that was dedicated to defying his family, his bloodline and his destiny, with a trouble that kept him bound inextricably to all three. Crocker whistled in his sleep like a fond old man, but it wouldn’t need distract her for long. More disappointing was the vacant space next to him – the little pet birdie he kept was away, for some reason. Unfortunate. Mara would have loved to give her this treatment, preferably something instantly debilitating and very, very painful. For now though, he would suffice – the handprint she left on his arm attested to it.

Mara sensed the immediate, unignorable sensation of bile rising to her throat, immediately upon reaching the third and final house. Nathan Wuornos, the boy that couldn’t feel. There was no telling how much of Audrey’s time he’d wasted, how many lies he had told her, the extent which he had deluded her and masked her further and further from the truth Mara had yearned for for well nigh hundreds of years. And now there he was, fine-boned features turned towards the open window, exposed to the moonlight’s glow. He slept peacefully, and that was perhaps the biggest insult of all. Right hand smouldering, she made sure that this trouble lived up to its name in every sense of the word, branding Nathan Wuornos’ flesh with it and hoping it brought him nothing but pain.

Outside of the house, a blackbird crowed.

Mara sucked in a lungful of night air, finally escaping the house that has made her skin crawl so. Now she would find the ideal vantage point to watch the havoc unfold come sunrise. The trip to Nathan Wuornos’s house had really set her on edge, and she was still feeling the unpleasant after-effects making her way down another street. A small one-story bungalow at the end of the road set itself apart from the other houses, and on a whim, Mara strode determinedly towards the homestead of one raven-haired woman she’d also become familiar with. Jordan McKee was hardly guilty like the others, but the thought of Jennifer Mason having slipped past her made Mara seek adequate compensation. 

It almost made Mara feel sorry for the girl, who slept with her comforter bunched towards her head, worry lines lingering at her face even in the throes of unconsciousness. She would definitely be one to watch, considering. One more black globule, one more handprint, one more troubled life. 

With that, Mara closed her box and retreated, taking position and waiting patiently for her fun to begin.


End file.
